Astonishing X-Men (2004) #52: The Long Shadow Of Trauma

This is about Xi’an from first to last page. Liu bets for character building and depth, focusing on her experiences as a disabled Vietnamese woman, survivor of sex trafficking and as an outsider to more relatively privileged, superhero-infused X-Men experiences. It’s a reflective issue that hopes it can make us understand the existential dread that Xi’an feels is one that comes from her trauma, and how the events on this run are working as a trigger to old ghosts.

The dark drawing style of Perkins still works perfectly for the desperate panels of Xi’an running around New York’s streets, but it’s the introduction to the art of Gabriel Hernández Walta what makes this issue shine deeply. It takes an extremely diferent style to the table: dramatic, precious and tender, with a beige shadowing to it, filled with nature scenarios, tears and expressive bodies and faces. It makes Kitty and Xi’an feel very real and close to the heart, and also shines a light on Xi’an narrating her own trauma. It’s also noticeable the back-and-forth change of artists works in favour of the narrative in this issue, not only in the flashback part of it but in the themes exposed by each artist’s panels. The cover is also an empowering one (even if the pose is a little unnatural), showing Xi’an’s disability aids in a cotidiane moment and naturalizing light.

It’s also noticeable how few times it is in X-Men comics that we get an exploration of the trauma that doesn’t necessary comes from being a mutant, but by an experience of intertwined oppression, abusive childhood, survivor-hood and even physical pain. It’s about every part of Xi’an’s experiences as a Vietnamese disabled LGBT+ woman. It’s clear in those museum panels, even if they’re both mutants, Kitty could never understand or even grasp the pain Xi’an goes through, and the only thing she can offer is a warm hug and an ear to listen. The fact that it is Xi’an who expresses that is both powerful and a statement against the homogenization of experiences. Yes, we have to fight together, but no, we are not the same.